It's All Chance
by mischievouskat
Summary: Tree Hill just got a little more complicated. ON HIATUS
1. James Bond

Lucas Scott.

The name raced through her mind as if foreign to her. Nothing and no one could justify him in her eyes, though, as a trail of long, colorful words tagged along behind the name. It was as if the man she'd known in high school, who could already be called a douche bag, had turned into an even bigger one come graduation. Since the beginning he'd come off as an insensitie prick who'd done nothing but toy around with Brooke and Peyton's heart. And three years later, as sad as it seemed, nothing had changed.

How many times had he claimed to love Peyton back in high school? How many times had he trampled Brooke's heart because of said love just wouldn't fade away? Pain like that just wasn't caused out of the heat of the moment; Lucas did love Peyton and everyone knew that he would have literally jumped off a building to prove it to her. Which is why it made no sense to learn that he'd skipped town with his bimbo ex-girlfriend when he should have been standing at the alter with his beautiful fiancé.

Brooke was the only one allowed to run away from her problems, she thought bitterly to herself as she clenched her jaw. She was the only one who was allowed to leave town when things just got to be too much. Not Lucas. Especially not Lucas. He was the only one of the group who seemed to have it all right there, just down the street of where he lived: a mother, a brother, a best friend, and a fiancé who loved him just as much as he did. There was no excuse for his disappearing act and whether he liked it or not, Brooke was going to smack some sense into him if and when she laid eyes on him again.

Peyton was missing.

The clock on Brooke's night stand was flashing big, red numbers. 12:00 AM. tracing the outline of the picture frame that sat on her dresser across the room with her eyes, she took a breath and tried to think of all the places her best friend could have run off to at such a late hour. An entire day without her had overworked Brooke's nerves and as selfish as it sounded to her, the only reason she wasn't out there looking for the runaway bride-to-be was because everything was so wrong that one look at Peyton would have made her crumble. Now she was holding back tears for her best friend, who'd done nothing but devote her time and life to Lucas, tears for her own pain that had resounded in church the day before.

As much as she wanted to find Peyton, a microscopic part of her wanted her to stay out there in pain, suffering the same way Brooke had been forced to suffer back in high school when she'd found out Lucas and Peyton had been seeing each other behind her back. Even though she didn't feel anything romantic for Lucas anymore, Brooke still felt like karma had caught up with them and that this... this was their punishment. A larger part of her, though, wanted her best friend to turn to her. She understood was Peyont was going through; Lucas had always been a tortured soul, and along with that, he had been a very confused one. He had never been able to make up his mind and when he did, he tended to second guess himself which only hurt the ones he loved.

"Brooke?"

It took a great deal of effort to peel her eyes away from a smiling Peyton and transfix them on her guest in the doorway. Putting on that brave face she was always making sure she wore when something went wrong, she forced a smile for Nathan, motioning for him to come in and make himself at home, not that he needed an invitation.

"I thought you might be up," he returned the smile.

"How can anyone sleep with this worry?"

"Apparently all of Tree Hill," Nathan chuckled softly. "Goes to show you how well they really know Peyton."

"I know she's fine," Brooke sighed, her voice a little shaky. "I'm just more concerned about how she's doing than where she is."

"She looked pretty bad," Nathan thought out loud.

"She _was_ pretty bad."

"I figured I'd stop by, check and see how you were doing," he gave her a reassuring smile as he sat down beside her, leaning against the backboard. "Maybe it's just me, but I think yesterday stirred up a lot of old memories."

"Well, aren't you observant?" Brooke chuckled.

"I get it from Dan," Nathan shrugged, accepting of the idea for once. "Every time I think he's let me down again, I find some new characteristic we have in common."

"He is your dad," Brooke smirked.

"Unfortunately."

"Don't say that," she said sadly. "Even though he's been pretty bad your whole life, you know he loves you more than anything."

"Right," Nathan scoffed sarcastically, not taking her words seriously. "If your definition of love is torture, than you're dead-on."

"Like you said," Brooke turned back to the frame, "they never gave us a chance. Just accept it and move on."

Nathan followed her gaze to the picture, the one he'd taken of Lucas, Brooke, and Peyton back when they'd gone camping a couple years back. Peyton's bright eyes made the picture so much more beautiful then it would be had she not had that spark in them that day. It would've been just like every other picture lying around, lifeless. At the same time that the picture made Brooke feel secure, Nathan knew it was touching a couple nerves that hadn't been touched in years and that thought worried him.

"He does love her, Brooke," Nathan spoke clearly but softly. "I know it doesn't seem like it after what he did, but he does."

When he heard the brunette beside him sniffle, his eyes immediately shot towards her face and sure enough, there were a few tears brimming the rims of her eyes. Crying had never been a selling point for Nathan when it came to women; if anything, it had always been a deal breaker for the sole reason that he just didn't know how to react around them. But with Brooke, and his wife, it had always been different. He still didn't know what to say but he at least knew that by simply being there with them, he helped.

"He better," she whispered.

"Come here," Nathan smiled understandingly as he raised an arm to let Brooke sidle up to him and rest her face on his peck.

"I'm being selfish," she admitted to him, her voice wet with the attempt to keep her tears from spilling over the edge. "I'm being completely selfish."

"No, you aren't," Nathan snapped at her. "If I'd gone through half the things you have, I would expect the same amount you do."

A pregnant silence filled the beige room as brooke forced the tears back and Nathan just held her, hoping she wouldn't hurt herself keeping everything bottled up like she usually did when it came to her friends. Actually, no matter what it was related to, Brooke Davis seemed to hide everything from everyone, the fear that she might burden someone else the way she'd always been burdened too strong to ignore. Nathan being there for her helped; it didn't soother all of it but it definitely relieved some of it.

"Do you think she left Tree Hill?"

"No," brooke shook her head against his chest. "Knowing her, she's probably back at her dad's old place."

"And we aren't heading over there now because...?"

"Because she needs time," Brooke explained. "As much as I want to drive over there and drag her back, I can't. After everything she's been through, if she doesn't sort this all out in her own head, she's going to be walking around, brooding, and as much as I hate to admit it, Lucas was the reason she stopped doing that."

Nathan chuckled as he wrapped an arm around the girl he'd grown to care for a lot more over the years since they'd graduated high school. Granted, they'd always been friends, even when she'd tried to mess him and Haley up; she'd proven to be a good friend the day right after by trying to set them up on a date. So much had happened between them, good and bad, that even though they weren't the most obvious, their friendship had become stronger and a lot more serious. The only thing about his friendship with Brooke that irked him was that the one responsible for it was Haley. Since she always saw the good in people, even if they walked all over her, she'd insisted on giving Brooke a chance. So he had.

"She'll come around," Nathan smiled. "She always does."

All Brooke could bring herself to do was nod along to his words of comfort as she stared at her perfectly pedicured toes; a French pedicure could really do wonders for a girl when things weren't looking too bright. And lately, it'd been doom and gloom ever since she had gone dress shopping with Haley and Peyton. Whether the happy couple had shown it or not, the wedding preparations had stressed their relationship to a point where both were just itching to make a break for it. And look at where they were now.

"He may be your brother, Nate, but if Lucas even thinks about showing his sleazy ass around here," Brooke stared at him with so much instensity, "so help me God I will tear his testicles off with my bare hands."

"I guess that answers my next question."

"Which was?"

"How upset are you?"

"I'm upset," Brooke breathed heavily. "At first, I think I was more depressed than angry, but now, I think I could rip a textbook in half."

"I'm right there with you," Nathan shrugged.

"Why are you angry?"

"Hello," Nathan scoffed teasingly. "Am I not the moron who found out his wife cheated on him with some wannabe rockstar?"

"Oh, Nate," Brooke smpathized with him, his marital porblems having been pushed aside by the lack of marital problems happening with Lucas and Peyton. "I wish I could say everthing's goign to be alright but I don't know that."

"I know it's not," Nathan shrugged. "Too much has happened for this marriage to survive. It's just become too much for me, you know?"

"Have you guys talked?"

"Once," he told her, "before the wedding and according to her, _I'm_ the reason she resorted to kissing Kellar in the first place because I wasn't being supportive of her dream." Shaking his head unbelievingly, he continued. "Can you really blame me, though? She chose Kellar over me and that's not easy to forgive."

"I don't blame you," Brooke looked at her hands.

"I just don't know how we're going to break it to Jamie," Nathan finally voiced his concern. "This is going to kill him."

"Don't you think you're jumping a head a little too quickly?" Brooke asked hurriedly, the worry seeping into her voice all too quickly. "You guys have been together for years now and I've seen you two overcome everything together." She paused before looking up at him with her sharp, hazel eyes. "I mean, you're Naley."

"Honestly, Brooke," Nathan smiled half-hertedly, "the amount of faith you have in us amazes me at times."

And amazed he was. Had there been words deep or storng enough to describe how in love Nathan and Haley had once been in, Nathan was pretty sure that coming from Brooke's mouth, they'd be capable of bringing a grown man to his knees in tears. It was no secret to anyone how much Brooke was involved in Nathan and Haley's relationship; it was part of the reason she'd been named Jamie's godmother. Even though Nathan was the only other being aware of how much Nathan and laey meant to Brooke as a couple, others did understand that any bit of turbulence in the relationship would feel like an earthquake to Brooke. Which is why he was selfish with her sometimes.

Brooke had a habit of comforting people even though she'd never exactly been aware of her ability to do so. She was always putting her friends first, never resting until she'd figured out a way to solve their problem and it was because of that attitude that she helped Nathan feel like everything was great in his marriage whenever it really wasn't. When things looked sketchy between him and his wife, he could always turn to Brook and feel the same comfort and joy he normally would have felt with Haley. All the issues they were having disappeared when Brooke was with him and he loved that.

"You two are the onyl people I've ever seen madly in love," Brooke pointed out with a cheery smile. "If you two don't last, then how am I supposed to expect anything?"

"You don't honestly believe that if Haley and I don't work out, you won't find the right guy, do you?" he asked, slightly amused.

"So what if I do?" she shot back defensively.

"Brooke, if _you_ don't find the right guy," Nathan's blue eyes met her hazel ones, "then how can any of us expect anything?"

——

"Brooke?"

The brunette in question gradually became aware of a voice somewhere in the background of her mind, compelling her to wake up. It was very faint at first, drifting around the edges of her consciousness, and she couldn't make out what it was saying. But as it got closer, it started to become clearer. Her name was being called, and a little desperately at that, she thought somewhat sleepily.

"Brooke!"

It could have just been her imagination, but when she realized she was still in her room, still lying on her bed, and the TV was still chattering away somewhere in the background, and the voice belonged to the one person she had been dying to see from the moment everyone at the wedding had found out Lucas wasn't showing to when she sat on her bed, everything felt like some warped reality.

It was Peyton.

The realization hit her like a bucket of cold water and as she made to jump up and hug her best friend so tightly, she'd probably suffocate in her arms, an obstacle made itself known in a very awkward and compromising manner.

As she took in the arched eyebrow, the expectant stance, and the teasing smirk on her best friend's lips, Brooke finally peeled her eyes away from Peyton and felt the blood rush up into her face when she saw what exactly the obstacle prohibiting her of suffocating her best friend with her arms was.

"Wow," Peyton smirked even wider. "I leave for a night and already things are starting to get crazy around here."

Ignoring the comment, Brooke bit her lip as she took in the sight of the big, bad Nathan Royal Scott, high school pimp and basketball star, lying beside her, shirtless and obviously oblivious to the commotion going on in the room around him. Brooke scarcely remembered him asking the ngiht before to crash at her place, and considering the news he had given her before that, she couldn't exactly refuse.

"Peyt, I can explain," she shot her friend a pleading look.

Peyton just gave her a 'not getting involved' look before crossing her arms and leaning back against the dresser to watch the comical scene play out before her. the skin-on-skin contact was making Brooke uncomfortable, as was Peyton's smirk, but ignoring both, she started looking aorund for Nathan's shirt, feeling ridiculous under her missing friend's questioning stare. It had taken a long time for Brooke to leave her days of hooking up back in high school in the past and the fact that there was a chance she had hooked up with her best friend, who happened to be married, terrified her.

"Where the hell is it?" she muttered as she searched through the white sheets and all around the floor. "It's fricking royal blue, for crying out loud! How does it just blend in?"

"Um, Brooke," Peyton interrupted her rant.

"What?"

Trying exceptionally hard to wipe the smirk off her face, she pointed down at Brooke's chest as anothr one of the most stomach-clenching realizations of that morning to hit the anxious brunette like a speeding eighteen-wheeler. She'd been scuttling around the room like an idiot in vain, looking for Nathan's blue shirt, when all she'd had to do from the moment she'd woken up was look down to see she was wearing it.

"Tree Hill's got some drama," Peyton teased as she walked out of the room. "A little more than you're average dosage. But hey, at least we have fun."


	2. Keep The Faith

"Peyton, will you please shut up?"

The relentless blonde had been ding nothing but making Brooke squirm all morning, trying to get her to spill nonexistent beans. The more Peyton questioned her, the more Brooke felt her cheeks grow red.

"I already told you nothing happened."

"Come on, B. Davis," she exclaimed. "I walked in on you two! He was half-naked and you were wearing the missing pieces!"

"I have no idea how I winded up in his shirt, Peyton," Brooke whined, the conversation starting to bother her. "And he's married. How could you think something so... so... perverse about me and him?"

"So you're denying it?"

"Yes!"

"You're so full of it, Davis!"

"Nothing happened!"

"So you say," Peyton smirked, "but I have a picture that says otherwise."

"You took a picture?" Brooke shrieked.

"For blackmailing purposes only."

"Traitor."

"Well?"

"Well what?" Brooke spat.

"Are you gonna tell me why you were so comfortable or am I going to have to call Nathan up and ask him myself?"

"You wouldn't dare."

Grabbing her cellphoen off her coffee table, Peyton scrolled through her contacts befoe reaching Nathan's name. Her finger hovering over the call button, she crossed her arms and gave Brooke a provoking look.

"Try me."

"I'm going to kill you," Brooke enunciated, "in your sleep!"

"Geez," Peyton scrunched up her nose, flipping her phone shut. "Don't take out your sexual frustration with Nathan on me, B. Davis. You know better."

"There isn't any sexual frustration, Peyton," Brooke whined, completely appalled that the one person who knew her better than anyone else could think so low of her. "We just fell asleep and maybe he's just used to sleep with Haley. Besides, you know what James Bond does to me at night. He's a man in his fifties jetting off around the world to kick some loser's ass. How awake was I supposed to be?"

"Are you sure you're not holding out on me?" Peyton asked skeptically.

"Of course I'm sure!"

"Just checking," Peyton held her hands up in mock surrender. "But you know," she added with a mischevious tone, "If you do the math right and look at it from an tjird party outsider's point-of-view, then tecnically Nate's fair game, B. Davis."

"I've never really been good at math."

"Oh," Peyton scoffed. "So you're telling me you've never thought about dating him, even after a certin tape incident?"

"He's Nathan Scott, Peyton," Brooke raised her eyebrows. "I'd have to be completely insane or completely stupid to not have thought about it."

"Then why can't you think about it now?"

"He's married, Peyton," Brooke said seriously, "to Haley. The thought of not being with her alone has him completely freaked out." The look on Peyton's face caused Brooke to pause and catch her breath. "Besides, I just don't see him like that."

"What's your point?"

"My point is," Brooke said exasperated, "it's not happening. Not in this lifetime or the next, for that matter."

"You're the only one out of the three of us who's never dated the guy," Peyton pointed out, too set on the idea. "Call me crazy but considering everything, I think you two might actually work together."

"You're the only one seriously naïve enough to believe that."

——

The rest of Brooke's day was spent at her store.

It was the one place she could go to and just relax, breathe easily, and take her mind off of all the problems that sudenly found themselves so prominent in her life.

Lucas left Peyton at the aler and Haley cheated on Nathan.

Where her friends had always had amazing luck, Brooke had always been the outcast, enjoying their moments as the supportive best friend. They'd all foud love and she'd always held back the tears that threatened to fall whenever one of them explained to her how amazing it was to be in love. Now, she had become the glue that held the all together, ironically enough since they had always been the glue to hold her together. Her role in the friendship had always been the supportive one, the one that had their backs; now, she just didn't know what to do but let them lean on her.

Business had been slow that week, not that there ever was a fast week. A high fashion clothing store in a small town that was barely on the map wasn't exactly the formula for success. She'd known that before opening it in the first place. But friendship was the most important part of her life at the moment and she had come back with the intention to move back in and start enjoying her life again.

Either way, Brooke just didn't have enough energy to care.

This was the pace she good just come to fall to pieces, pull herself together, or anything else she felt like doing. At home, she had to worry about Peyton walking in on her, the river court was Nathan's place to go and meditate and the Red Bedroom records belonged to both Peyton and Haley. Clothes Over Bros was her escape, her idea of the perfect place to mediate on her own terms. The fresh smell of the recently opened boxes that drifted into the front from the back, the vibrant atmosphere the clothes created; this is what she needed to be surrounded by while she tried to figure everything out.

Millie hadn't come in today, at Brooke's request. She needed this time to be alone, to just brood although she refused to admit it to herself or outloud. Brooding wasn't her thing, but even though she denied that she had a habit of doing it at certain times, she found herself doing it a lot more now than she ever had before. Lucas, of course, was to blame for that along with his lovely girlfriend, Peyton.

Dropping her clipboard on the front desk, she placed a hand on her hip while the other rubbed her forehead, thinking about her earlier conversation with the spunky blonde. The idea of being with Nathan was simply the most ridiculous thing she'd ever heard come out of her friend's big mouth and Peyton Sawyer had said her fair share of stupid things in the past. It wasn't right for her to want Brooke to be with a friend's husband.

"Something told us you'd be here."

And there he was.

As if on cue, Nathan had walked into the store, dressed in his old basketball shorts and a white t-shirt, a bag of clean clothes hanging from his left hand. Lately, he'd been acting as the only voice of reason Brooke could turn to, the only thing stopping her from castrating Lucas and strangling Haley. As hard as it was for her to admit it, he was keeping her together; he'd been there for her when Peyton had been missing and had talked her out of brutalizing Lucas and when she'd been there for him with his marital issues, he'd also talked her out of harming his soon-to-be-ex wife.

"I can only put off work for so long," Brooke shrugged.

"No offense," he chuckled as he dropped the bag by his feet and crossed his arms, "but I don't think it's going anywhere."

"The ironic part," Brooke bit her bottom lip as she looked around at the store that'd taken so much time and money to build, "is that I knew that before I opened it."

"Then why did you?"

"It was the only way I could stay in Tree Hill."

"I'm sure you would have found a way," Nathan smiled sympathetically. "You are Brooke Davis after all, aren't you?"

Returning the smile, she felt herself nod. "I guess I am," she sighed, her eyes taking in the store in one long sweep. "I'm sure business will pick up eventually."

"Brooke Davis," he shook his head. "Always the optimist, right?"

"It beat the hell out of brooding," brooke scrunched up her nose in distaste. "LUcas and Peyton sure make it look like fun, but it's been ten minutes and I already feel hideous wrinkled on my face." Her hand unvoluntarily shot up to lightly touch her cheekbone, her subconscious fear of those hideous lines getting to her.

"PLease," Nathan waved her remark off. "Everyone's already accepted the fact that you're going to die beautiful so you might as well accept it, too."

"Don't sweet talk me," Brooke frowned jokingly.

"So," he started to change the subject, "about why I'm here."

"You mean it wasn't just to call me beautiful?" Brooke teased him.

"Well, of course that was the main reason," he chuckled, amazed by her quick wit, "but there is something else, too."

"Shoot."

"I wanted to apologize."

Brooke crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at him. Nathan Scott had never in the fourteen years she'd known him, ever uttered those words to her before. And the fact that her mind was blanking for why he'd chose to say them now kind of sucked the happiness out of the moment that, like a real smile from the younger Scott, was extremely rare. Ignoring the pleading look in his eyes for a cup of coffee, she waited quietly for him to continue, her eyes already asking the question he was waiting for her to ask.

"About last night," he sighed. "I think I might have given Peyton the wrong idea about us this morning and knowing her, she must have hounded you about it afterwards."

Brooke smirked. "Well she's definitely not subtle when it come to confronting people," she joked lightly. "She's a little obvious."

"Don't I know it."

"But everything's fine, Nate," Brooke waved it off as she smoothed out her dress. "Lucas is all she's been thinking about and if thinking we hooked up is taking her mind off of that miserable asshole, then I'm perfectly fine with that."

Nathan's cheeks flushed a bright red as he looked up from the ground and met Brooke's hazel eyes head on. She was a little caught off guard by the sudden sheepishness in his eyes and as she went over what she'd said to him, Brooke suddenly felt her cheeks heating up as well, not having realized what she'd said to the married man standing a couple feet away. Not that the conversation hadn't been awkward as it was, but mentioning that Peyton thought they were hooking up had been the stupidest thing Brooke David had ever said.

"She thinks we're hooking up?"

All Brooke wanted was the ground to swallow her up and get her out of that extremely sticky situation. Turning on her heel, she let her hand run through her hair as she made her way into the back room to see if the pot of coffee she'd started a few minutes before Nathan had showed up was ready. Nathan, of course, was on her heels, too surprised by the revelation the lovely brunette had made to just let it go. If it hadn't been awkward enough to have to dodge every accusationt thrown at her by Peyton, then explaining to Nathan why she's let the blonde think they were hooking up was going to be emotionally scarring.

"N-Not exactly," Brooke stuttered as she filled up two cups and closed her eyes. "Look, Nate, I just didn't know what else to say to her to convince her that we didn't. And since I kind of gave up trying to deny it, she just assumed."

"It's okay," Nathan laughed, amused by how flustered Brooke had gotten. "Like you said, if it's taking her mind off of Lucas, then it's fine."

"It is?"

"Yes, it is," Nathan smiled reassuringly, his shoulder brushing hers accidentally as he leaned over to grab one of the cups of coffee sitting behind her. "Her emotionaly stability means more to me than some stupid lie."

"But Haley-"

"I don't care what she thinks," Nathan cut Brooke off, not wanting to hear what she was going to say about his wife. "Of she ends up finding out, then let her think what she wants. That's up to her, not me."

"Nathan," Brooke sighed.

"Brooke," he shot back testingly.

"She's my friend, too," Brooke finally found the courage to say. "Saying that I hooked up with her husband is backstabbing and, in your case, cheating."

"She did it to me," Nathan replied clamly, catching Brooke off guard. "Why shouldn't I get to do the same?"

"Because this isn't high school anymore, Nate," Brooke spoke gently, noticing the pain in his eys as he thought about his wife being with another man, especially Chris Kellar. "You can't fix this by cheating on her, too. And besides," she tried to smile for his sake as his eyes landed on her again, "you're better than that."

He was silent for a long time, thinking as his eyes roamed her features. Brooke Davis could have quite possibly been his best friend at that moment, considering she was always trying to save their marriage, even if it was by simply giving him advice. Anyone else, his brother and Peyton included, would have probably told him to talk it out with Haley and figure out a way to split up without having to stick Jamie in the middle. Brooke wasn't like that; no, she held onto their relationship with an iron grip and forced him to think about life without his wife and, at times, without his son.

"I have faith in you, Nathan Scott," Brooke spoke up quietly, bringing him back to reality as her words sunk in. "Even if you don't have any in yourself."


	3. Coke

The phone hissed emptily for a second or two, and during that second, Brooke wondered if she'd dialed the wrong number; but then the line kicked in with an electric crackle and soon enough, it started to ring. The familiar tone buzzed through her head over and over again for a moment until finally, she heard someone pick up on the other end.

"What is it, Brooke?"

The woman on the other end sounded hard and abrupt. Maybe because she was speaking to her or maybe not. Nevertheless, it wasn't quite what Brooke had been expecting, but jarringly close to it. She had been wrong about this; it was going to be a lot harder than she'd expected it to be when she'd first dialed the damn number. Her grip tightened on her phone as she took a deep breath, finally opening her mouth to say something.

"When I told you I was signing the company over to you," Brooke began, "I wasn't including my store, Victoria."

"It belongs to the company."

"It's a commercial failure."

"But the merchandise isn't."

Brooke shook her head in disbelief. How could 'mother' have been this woman's title for the first eighteen years of Brooke's life? Especially when she didn't have a single maternal bone in her entire body? Everything she'd done, she'd done out of a sense of responsibility to feed and care for her only child, a child that has only expected love. Victoria had neglected her, emotionally abused her, ridiculed her yet the old naïve Brooke Davis had fallen into those rotten manicured clutches and tried to win her love and affection. Now, it was clear to anyone who saw both Davis women together that each wanted the other one to shrivel up into nothing and disappear out of the other's life.

"They're my designs," Brooke argued in vain.

"Maybe," Victoria sighed in a bored manner, "but they belong to the company and since the company no longer belongs to you, neither do the designs."

Sometimes, when she was alone and was sure no one would hear her, Brooke let herself cry and vent out her feelings of rejection. Her mother caused most of her pain; Lucas had caused all the rest. Now, at least, she only had to deal with her mother's constant scheming behind her back and the knowledge that her parents had never wanted her. Crying was Brooke's weakness and it made her feel absolutely vulnerable, a mistake she hadn't allowed herself to make since she'd given Lucas her all.

"I don't have time for this, Brooke," Victoria sounded utterly annoyed. "Trying to reason with me is just a complete waste of my time so if that's it...," she trailed off, knowing Brooke would fill in the blanks.

"Yes," Brooke replied cooly. "That's it."

Victoria didn't even bother replying before she hung up on her daughter. As she sat there and listened to the dial tone, Brooke felt a sense of emptiness. For years she's worked to build the company that her mother had somehow managed to take from her, though legally, Brooke had signed it over to her. No matter what Brooke tried to do, Victoria just seemed to demean her word, which didn't sit well with her. The poisonous bitch had manipulated her, toyed with the fact that Brooke only wanted to make her proud to a point where Brooke had decided to have no part in her own company. And just like that, a dream that had only lived in her dreams for so long, was gone.

Empty hangers, naked mannequins, and ripped boxes littered the store's bare floor, not even the gorgeous carpet she'd bought to bring out the colors of the clothes having been spared in the raid. It seemed all too surreal that just hours ago, this place had been full of life, the casual passerbyers walking by, scoping out the mannequins in the store's front windows, and all the clothes just waiting for the average teenage girl to walk in with a few of her friends and go crazy trying on all the clothes they deemed hot and sexy, which at one point it all had been according to _Elle_ Magazine.

"We figured you'd be hungry so we brought you some—"

The bells above the door jingled slightly and soon enough, the store was filled with the sound of cars and people from the outside world, the noise echoing off the bare walls. Brooke had almost forgotten about it, the outside world, seeing as how her own personal one was falling from the great heights it had found itself at. Usually, reality ceased to exist for Brooke once she stepped in through the wooden doors at the front, and her imagination took over and motivated her to start sketching a few more designs for the next season's line.

"What the hell happened in here?"

"Nothing," Brooke pulled herself together before turning around and forcing a smile. "We're just rearranging things a bit."

"Brooke," Peyton gave her a look.

"What?"

"Rearranging?" she repeated. "Really?"

"Yes, Peyton," Brooke nodded curtly. "We're rearranging. Victoria didn't like how everything was arranged here so she had a couple of idiots come in and take every last bit of clothing in the damn store so she could set it up in the one in New York."

When Peyton's eyes widened, and Nathan's drooped slightly, Brooke took a deep breath and let her hand open slightly to relieve her phone of her tight grasp. The timing her two friends had was impeccable; Brooke had been hoping to keep the store's closing a secret for as long as she could until shed found a way of convincing Victoria to reopen it again. Now that the secret was out in the open, she wasn't sure what else to tell them. So instead of contributing anymore verbal information, she decided to let them read the fine print Victoria had been oh so gracious enough to send her, for themselves.

"She can't do that, can she?" Peyton asked, her frown turning into a scowl as she made her au over to Brooke. "I mean, there must be something we can—"

"The company bought a patent for the designs a couple of months ago and if I try to interfere with their release, my ass'll be in the state prison faster than I can blink for violating a legally binding contract," Brooke read out of a manila folder in her hands, adding the last part purely for the light humor the moment needed.

"Prison?" Nathan repeated stupidly.

"Prison," Brooke nodded.

"Have you tried talking to the bitch?" Peyton asked, not even making an attempt to hide the dislike for the woman.

"I just got off the phone with her."

"Well, what did she say?"

"The designs and the company don't belong to me anymore and that I was simply wasting her time trying to reason with her," Brooke repeated, almost robotically.

"God, I wish I could smack some sense into that old hag," Peyton seethed, crossing her arms as she fumed. "You'd think, considering you're her only child she'd have some sort of sympathy regarding your dream."

"Peyton," Brooke laughed dryly, "she was capable of neglecting a child. What makes you think she would hesitate to rip a grown woman's dream away?"

"She makes a good point," Nathan shrugged, not sure if speaking was the right thing to do at that point.

"I'm done talking about this, though," Brooke rubbed her forehead with a hand. "Have you tried calling Lucas yet?"

"Why would I do that?" Peyton hissed.

"Because you deserve some answers," Brooke put it simply. "And even if you don't want them, you know you need them."

"I don't need anything that comes from _him_," Peyton breathed, her eyes hardening as her jaw clenched at the mere mention of her ex-fiancé.

"Peyton," Nathan began but she cut him off.

"Don't you 'Peyton' me, Nathan," she snapped, making him shrink down a size. "You two can't just expect me to speak to him as if nothing."

"You do know he's going to try and contact you, right?" Nathan revealed hesitantly. "You'll be the first person he'll want to see."

"And if he even tries," Brooke spoke up menacingly, "I'll be the _last_ person he sees. Lucas Scott isn't getting anywhere near Peyton without giving me a decent explanation first." Crossing her arms, she looked at Peyton supportively. "He may be my friend too but he crossed a serious line when he got on the plane with that bimbo."

"I thought you liked Lindsay," Nathan chuckled.

"That was before I realized how much of a skank she really is," Brooke shrugged. "Now she's just my mortal enemy."

"Okay," Peyton giggled a little. "Down, girl, please. Lindsay isn't the problem. At least not the biggest one."

"You're right," Brooke nodded. "Lucas is."

"If you two are planning on murdering the poor guy," Nathan piped up quickly, "please try and remember that the idiot has a brother."

"Which is why we're going to rid you of the burden," Peyton smirked in satisfaction. "Don't you worry, Natey."

"I'll try not to," he scratched the back of his neck. "And if you guys are done figuring out what order those two are going to die in," he held up the bag of take-out, "I have food here waiting to be devoured."

---

The smell of the crispy Tree Hill air was the first thing that greeted his nostrils. A much older woman's perfume was the second.

Dragging the small, miserable bag he'd managed to pack before racing off to meet with Lindsay at the airport two days ago, Lucas Scott walked out of the small airport and made his way towards the parking lot, with the determination to find his car in less than a minute. He had so much to do now that he was home, and so many people to apologize to. Of course, the first one was going to have to be Brooke Davis. If he was going to have any chance in hell to apologize to Peyton, he was going to have to get Brooke's blessing first otherwise, he'd be screwed. No way would Peyton stay tightlipped about a visit from him if he decided to go straight to her and then he'd have a pissed of Davis on his tail.

Spotting his car halfway towards the back, he rushed over to it, keys in his hand, and unlocked the door as he picked his bag up. He shoved it into the passenger seat and quickly started the car, wanting to speak to the fiesty brunette merely ten minutes away from where he was at the moment before the end of the day.

---

"Who's side are you on anyway?" Peyton scoffed.

"I can't be on anyone's, Peyton," Nathan groaned. "He's my brother and you're one of my best friends. I have to be objective."

"You know," Brooke cut in, "it times like these when I curse the day you and Tutor Girl met. We sure could use some of the old Lucas-hating Nathan Scott right now."

"At this point, so could I."

The chicken in Brooke's carton suddenly seemed less interesting and much more sour than she had expected it to be. Mentioning Haley had been a slip of the tongue, a little mistake she was bound to make at some point in time. With everything that had been going on with Peyton and Lucas, the other issue that seemed just as prominent and heartshattering was the youngest Scott's divorce that was undoubtedly going to take place. For the past couple of days, Brooke had been doing a splendid job of watching what she said but seeing as they had all been on a Lucas-bashing roll, the thought of mentioning Haley hadn't even crossed her mind.

"That didn't come out right," Brooke tried to fix her mishap up, even though it was too late to do anything about it.

"It's okay, Davis," Nathan smiled up at her. "A lot's been going on and besides, you two were on a roll."

"Is anyone thristy?" Peyton interrupted.

"What?"

"You forgot the Coke again."

"Coke?" Brooke exclaimed, not having heard Peyton's first question. "Peyton, you said that was a one time thing and—"

"I meant soda, Brooke," Peyton groaned, noticing the look on Nathan's face as Brooke blushed and busied herself with her chicken again. "But good looking out."

"You've tried coke, Sawyer?"

"I'm not having this conversation with you," Peyton shook her head as she pushed herself off the floor. "Once with Haley and Brooke was enough."

Again the slip-up had occured, and this time, it hit a little more close to home if not all the way because Peyton had actually used the honey-blonde's name while Brooke had simply used the nickname she'd given her back in high school when they'd first met. Nathan grimaced slightly as he stuffed his mouth with chicken and motioned for an crestfallen-looking Peyton to just go ahead and get the soda from wherever she thought she was going to find it. With one last apologetic look from the blonde, Nathan watched her walk out the front doors and head down the street before turning back to his food.

"Today's just an off day," Brooke offered lamely.

"Haley's just a bitch," Nathan replied resentfully.

"Nathan," Brooke exclaimed. Never once had she heard him refer to anyone other than herself as a bitch and the fact that it had been Haley shocked her.

"She is," he shrugged. "And you know it."

"I can't wait for things to go back to normal," Brooke sighed, staring at her chicken moodily as if it had been the one to piss her off.

"That's _if_ they go back to normal," Nathan added.

"Stop being so negative, Nate!"

"I'm not! You're just being too optomistic!"

"Since when is that a crime?"

"Its not, but it just makes everything harder!"

Once again, Nathan had managed to shut Brooke up. His intention hadn't been to make her feel bad or lose his temper, but that's the way it'd come out and even though now Brooke just didn't even want to look at him, Nathan knew it'd be easier that way. Talking about it too much just pissed him off and the amount of positivity one petite woman could hold inside of her just overwhelmed him. The fact that Brooke had so much faith in his relationship with Haley only ate away at him even more for reasons he couldn't understand.

"I hate it when I lose my cool around you," Nathan blurted out unexpectedly.

Looking at him, Brooke felt her curiosity growing. That single sentence had held more emotion than anything else he'd ever said to her and it had shocked her into silence. Nathan did have a habit of losing his cool and even though Brooke was present most of the time, she never would have imagined that he'd given it that much thought to hate having her around when it actually happened.

"Why?"

The word had slipped out, having danced on her tongue long enough. The second she'd heard it, though, she'd wished she could take it back, her curiosity to know why he felt that way being something she could adjust to. Hearing his answer, she thought to herself, would, no doubt, change their simple relationship and even she was smart enough to figure that one out without anyone's help.

"It bothers you."

"It doesn't bother me," Brooke immediately retorted. "It worries me when Jamie or a potential human punching bag's around, but it doesn't bother me."

"It might as well if it worries you."

"Nathan," Brooke tried to get him to look at her, "look around. Jamie isn't here and there isn't a potential human punching bag for miles."

"So?"

"So losing your cool is part of what makes you Nathan Scott," Brooke smirked, finally catching his eye. "Could I honestly love you as much as I do if you were some stick-in-the-mud cliché like Lucas? I mean, the only time he's ever lost it is when Jake's been around Peyton and as far as I know, he's been gone for years now."

Surprisngly enough, out of that whole entire miniature speech, all Nathan could concentrate on was the part where Brooke had admitted she loved him. Just like she had predicted when he'd first mentioned how he hated losing his cool around her, their simple relationship _had_ changed and not necessarily for the good, or for the bad. It was just different now because now the true extent of how much the other meant to the other one was out in the open when it had never even been thought about before.

"Can you believe not one store on this street has anything portable to drink?" Peyton's voice rung in their ears as Brooke finally forced herself to tear her eyes from Nathan's. "I had to walk a couple of blocks to find these bad boys," she added, holding up the three bottles of water in her hands.

"No Coke?" Nathan teased.

"No," Peyton glared. "Not unless you want me to break my foot upside your ass."

"No Coke then."


End file.
